No Longer Lonely
by PerpetuallyTired
Summary: Burgerpants' dreary life is about to be flipped around once he makes an unexpected friend in Napstablook. As feelings begin to emerge, will Burgerpants be able to push through the heartbreak and pain of his past, and stand up for what he truly feels and believes in order to create a better future? Rated T for language, minor suggestive themes, slight gore and drug/addition mention.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Ghostly Encounters**

 **A/N: To celebrate my new FF account, I bring you this cute, crack ship fic idea stemmed from too much caffeine at four in the morning. It's about everyone's favourite minimum wage worker cat and his unexpected friendship with a certain incorporeal cousin.**

 **(My first real, polished Undertale fic. Please let me know if I got any characterization wrong, or if I messed up any canon facts, ehehe…)**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

 ****DISCLAIMER: I do not own Undertale or any of the characters and settings mentioned. I am merely doing this for fun.****

 ****CONTENT WARNING: Drug/cigarette mention, blood mention, language, and some minor suggestive themes later on****

* * *

"Another day, another eight hours wasted working in corporate hell."

Burgerpants lit up a much needed cigarette, and took a long, lingering puff. He glanced down the dark alleyway, checking to make sure there was nobody there to potentially mug him, then locked the back door. The jingle of his keys was the only sound echoing in the silent street, and it filled the monster with slight foreboding.

"Nothing a couple more puffs won't fix." His gravelly voice said to no one, more to calm his own nerves than anything. He didn't really know for sure, but even though he'd walked this alleyway many a day after hours at the hotel, tonight seemed different. Like he was being watched.

A droplet of water fell to the ground in front of Burgerpants.

"Rain...? In Hotland?"

He gave his cigarette a confused look, as though he'd accidentally switched it with perhaps any other substance he was known to carry, then shrugged and walked onward. This definitely wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever seen. He could always chalk it up to mental fatigue.

Or his job was actually driving him mad and he was seeing things.

Burgerpants didn't live far from his work. He could have chosen to live in the hotel like the rest of Mettaton's workers, but there was nothing he wanted more than to avoid spending extra time in that dump. He opted for a less stress-inducing option instead: the duplexes just between where the cobblestone streets ended, and the volcanic rock began. Sure, the rent was a little higher, and he shared it with a group of the loudest and most obnoxious party monsters in the entire underground, but anything to be farther away from his minimum wage prison was good enough for him.

He was only about five minutes away when he heard it. The muffled sound of... Crying? It couldn't be possible, there was no one out there besides him, and though the cat monster was definitely crying on the inside, that wouldn't translate to any actual noise outside of the occasional whimper of melancholic despair.

But this was almost eerie. Eerie, and yet... So intriguing.

Burgerpants searched for the source of the sound, but had no luck. And the droplets seemed to follow him even faster now.

"Ha... Uh, yanno, it's not cool to follow someone all the way home."

The crying didn't stop. Burgerpants was almost certain he was hearing things, if it weren't for the inexplicable water drops and ominous feeling he had.

"Buddy, c'mon. Just show yourself, take my chump change and let's pretend I didn't get robbed from someone who sounds like they regret more things than I do, sound good?"

It was hard to mask the shaking in his voice, and Burgerpants broke into a speed walk, determined as hell to make it home in one piece.

Unfortunately, the empty streets of Hotland had other ideas, and Burgerpants caught the toe of his shoe on a crack in the sidewalk, falling flat on his nose. He growled in pain.

"Oh perfect, just great. You know what this conglomeration of bad luck needs? A bloody nose- oh. Yep. There it is, folks, now where's my freakin' applause?"

Burgerpants held his sleeve to his face, scowling while scanning his surroundings. On the bright side, it seemed as though the mystery follower had disappeared. No more crying, no more rain no more-

"Auughhh!" Burgerpants flew backwards, scooting away from the apparition in front of him as fast as he could. He'd spoken too soon, unsurprisingly.

The figure didn't move, only blinked, with tears in their eyes and a sorrowful expression on their face. Burgerpants was taken aback slightly.

"Are... You okay?" The ghost monster hovered slowly, cautiously, causing Burgerpants to regain some form of backbone.

"Um. Are you the one who's been following me home?"

The ghost looked confused and maybe even a little embarrassed, their cheeks flushing in some weird, physics-defying way, and their tears growing bigger."

"Oh... Oh I'm sorry... I didn't realize that I was following you. This... This is just where I decided to go tonight... I wasn't paying attention…"

Burgerpants bit his lip, now only a little embarrassed with himself. He thought _they_ were scary?

"Oh, no... I'm sorry, I've upset you... I scared you, didn't I? Oh I promise, I-I didn't mean to... I just wanted a change of scenery from my normal spot, and-and..." The ghost sniffled, and the tears fell generously to the pavement.

Burgerpants sat in awe for a few seconds before snapping out of it.

"W-wait, no, listen pal, you didn't... I mean, granted, I was creeped out for like, maybe half a second, but..."

They continued to sob, turning away from the stunned restaurant worker.

"N-no, hey, don't cry! Please don't cry! I'm not good with this emotional stuff, buddy!"

Frantically, Burgerpants waved his hands, trying to calm the spectre. It didn't really seem to work, and he could only come up with so many generic solutions to help ease their mind.

"Um, wh-why don't you tell me your name?"

Burgerpants' eye twitched waiting for a response. He didn't even know why he should care this much about a monster he'd never previously met, but he felt a little guilty over this small misunderstanding nonetheless.

"It's... Napstablook." They sighed, finally letting their big, ghostly eyes open wide and stare right through Burgerpants. The cat monster shivered, as if he were the transparent one, rather than his new ghost acquaintance.

"But some people call me Blook, and Met- ah... My cousin calls me Blooky. You can choose either one, I have little power to stop you..."

"Um, kay." Burgerpants regained composure, and was able to lift himself from the ground. Blooky's eyes followed him, silent tears still running down their face.

"Y-your nose... I caused that, didn't I?"

Burgerpants raised his eyebrow, then caught himself in a slight panic when Napstablook's breathing hitched, and more tears spilled to the ground.

"Oh, uh, this? No, I just tripped. I'm a total klutz, ehehehe."

Napstablook nodded slowly, then pulled a handkerchief from… somewhere behind them?

Burgerpants didn't even know ghosts _had_ pockets.

"I may not be able to do much... But I can help you with this." They murmured, wiping at Burgerpants' split nose. It stung and ached like hell, and might have already been infected, but God knows he needed the extra sick day anyway.

Finally, with a small, subdued flourish, and a subtle smile, Blooky had cleaned up most of the mess. "There… hope that's okay."

Burgerpants tugged at his collar, feeling the sweat at his neckline. Why did this ghost have to be so damn cute when they smiled?

"You never told me your name. I'm sorry, I didn't ask before."

He hoped they'd never ask.

"Eh, everyone calls me Burgerpants. It's a long story."

"I have time, but if you don't want to say anything, that's okay... I'm not forcing you to."

Burgerpants swallowed the lump in his throat. Great, another attractive monster squirming their way into his life. How much humiliation did he have to endure before he could stop being so incredibly easy to get?

The only difference here, was that, he wasn't even trying to impress them. But Blooky just kept listening to the story intently, as if they hadn't spoken to anyone in a very long time.

"That sounds like quite the ordeal. I'm sorry those girls were unkind to you…. That's terrible. I don't want to call you that name if it makes you feel bad."

"N-no, it's fine. I'm used to it by now."

"Oh…. Okay. Well, if it's any consolation, I don't think any less of you for it."

Burgerpants made a noise akin to some kind of giraffe-dolphin monster hybrid, and his face flushed pink. What was the deal here? Was this one of Bratty and Catty's pranks? Or the bullies from his old high school? Or God-forbid, METTATON? If Mettaton paid someone to be nice to him, he would never show up to work again. Let the Underground suffer without their precious Glamburgers.

"Uh, th-thanks, buddy." Despite his suspicions, Blooky was undeniably adorable, and he couldn't help himself from slipping into the deepest darkest pit of mixed feelings that he loathed to admit he had. "That's really cool of you to say."

 _'That's really cool of you to say.'_ Wow. Burgerpants was about ready to bury himself under 500 gallons of sweltering lava just to have an excuse for the red hot blush that crept so far up his ears, he swore the fur would start curling.

The ghost was now blushing too, and strangely enough, Burgerpants found it more adorable than that one time Bratty and Catty showed up at his work in matching crop tops.

He had to get a grip here.

"So," he cleared his throat for probably the sixteen time in a feeble attempt to cover up those dreaded mixed feelings. "Er, you live around here?"

"Waterfall, actually. To the North, right next to my family's snail farm. It's a nice place, though a bit lonely…" They sighed wistfully, with those familiar tears hanging on by the edges of their eyes. "Where do you live?"

"Just over there." Burgerpants pointed to his dilapidated duplex.

Luckily, all the lights next door seemed to be out. He might actually manage to get some sleep tonight. That was, if he could stop his mind from drifting back to the cute little ghost in front of him.

"I see. Well, I should let you get home then. I wouldn't want to keep you from whatever you have planned."

"Uh… yeah." Burgerpants hesitated. For a brief moment, he contemplated inviting them inside, but stamped it out.

Why was he acting this way? He just met this monster, for crying out loud. Maybe it was because this could be his very first potential friend. A real friend. Someone who didn't seem to have any ulterior motives despite their attractiveness. He shuddered once again at the prank possibility, but continued on.

"W-wait. Um, it was nice talking to you. Even if we did get off on the wrong foot- paw- er…" Ectoplasmic tendrils? God he was really embarrassing himself now. Napstablook was definitely going to start laughing at him at any moment. Where was a lava-resistant shovel when you needed it?

"Heh… heh. It was nice talking to you too. I hardly meet anyone nice anymore…"

Oh who was he kidding? This monster was a freakin' marshmallow.

Or more like, Napstablook was the fire, and Burgerpants was the marshmallow, utterly melting from a spectre's simple smile.

"Feel free to come over to my house anytime. That is… if you want to…."

"S-sure, uh, yeah."

And with that, Napstablook faded away into the darkness. Burgerpants was fairly certain he hadn't breathed at all during the last minute of that exchange, and so he heaved a huge sigh of relief against the door as soon as he was in the confines of his home.

Why was he such a babbling idiot?

That was Burgerpants' first thought when he reached his bedroom and flopped onto the bed. The mattress groaned underneath him, and he lazily kicked off his shoes. He wouldn't bother with the rest of his uniform tonight, too exhausted.

His next thought was judging how good certain people were at hiding cameras. He should have checked the front porch, or his neighbours' hedges.

His third thought: this couldn't actually be real, could it?

How could someone so sweet, soft-spoken, and so adorable, _actually_ be talking to him? And without giving him that gut-wrenching feeling that it was all for some kind of personal gain? He was used to being toyed like that. He was used to being jostled and kicked and laughed at. But genuine kindness was very rare to come by, and if by some miracle, it wasn't all just a sick fabrication, then Burgerpants could actually have a shot at this. It was hard not to think about and even harder to squelch the smirk that stayed plastered to his lips. Not to mention that bubbly feeling in his chest, as though it were a soda can that had been shaken vigorously and opened immediately after.

He was going to visit Napstablook tomorrow, Burgerpants spontaneously decided.

And he made a vow to not screw anything up.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Second chapter finally up! I just had a surge of inspiration and decided to roll with it, so here it is at long last. (Slight content warning for death-mention and language, just in case.)**

Burgerpants managed to lift his seasick body from the riverperson's raft. It had been a grueling 35 minutes of rickety torture, enough to render him immobile the whole time. The riverperson just kept rambling on in that cryptic way, taking bumps and curves way too hard, and laughing bizarrely at their own quirks.

At least this person seemed more upbeat than a lot of others.

As if on cue, a group of aggravated-looking monsters pushed past Burgerpants as he made his way groggily up the hill into the dreary town.

"Watch where you're going, punk."

He rolled his eyes at them and kept walking. He was far too invested in his own personal mission than to pay much mind to that kind of indecency.

Sadly, it seemed Waterfall was the worst place of all for hostility. Not only was it the home of the terrifying and legendary Undyne, captain of the Royal Guard, but it also contained a massive number of her devoted followers. Her heart was in the right place, sure, but Burgerpants knew that when she wanted something, she would stop at nothing to obtain it, no matter how brutal the method. Luckily he had never even met her in person, let alone had the great misfortune of getting on her bad side. Because of her relentless anger and determination, Waterfall could be a really frightening place to find oneself in.

Unlike Snowdin, where everyone was sad, sure, but there was a unique mirthfulness and quirky charm to the place. The bright lights decorating the houses and the snow that settled all year round was enough to keep them going, it seemed. Citizens were fairly content with what they had, and the skeletons patrolling the premises were infinitely less intimidating than Undyne.

And of course, Hotland was buzzing with a celebrity face and almost everyone had a job and a home. Mettaton would pretty much force people to be happy, and if they didn't comply, then they would have to sit through his obnoxious TV shows until they felt something other than pure rage. Which, as far as Burgerpants was concerned, was a damn-near impossible feat.

Burgerpants shivered at the cold air blasting from the West end. Or perhaps the shiver was from the thought of having to suffer through "Cooking with a Killer Robot." He couldn't be too sure, but he did know that if there was one thing scarier than killer fish women and angry monster mobs, it was Mettaton's ridiculously massive ego.

Once he arrived at the top of the hill, he turned his head to meet the rushing sound of the underground river that spanned the entirety of this area. There was a brilliant reflection in the water, and it illuminated a couple of small children, who could be seen having a conversation through an Echo Flower.

If nothing else, Waterfall was arguably the prettiest place in the entire Underground, regardless of the hostility and anger that bubbled just beneath the surface. It was one of the few places one could go to think, and though Burgerpants hated taking the river raft, he had to admit it wasn't as terrible this time around as he dreaded it would be. In fact, everything around him seemed more beautiful than ever. The cyan flowers shone just a little bit brighter, and the holes in the cave's ceiling twinkled just a little bit more than he usually noticed.

Maybe it was because for the first time in a long time, Burgerpants was genuinely excited. Anyone else could have called him pointlessly optimistic, but he felt it was more of a blunt hope that something, _anything_ would just go right for him for once.

And he held onto it tightly.

Approaching the Blook Snail Farm, Burgerpants could only guess that the two lopsided houses of opposite hues belonged to some of the Blook family members. The one on the right was a tacky pink, eerily similar to Burgerpants' work uniform, and suddenly there was an awful taste in his mouth.

The one next to it, though more broken down, was definitely the calmer colour, and there was even a little welcome mat that said, "come in…... only if you want to though….. no pressure or anything."

This house, without a doubt, was Napstablook's.

He glanced around to see if the ghost was anywhere outside, though it seemed that all the race snails were resting in the corral. Some of the lazier ones were turned over and taking in what little light shone through the crevices.

Burgerpants felt bad for them. For this farm. Napstablook's family deserved a better place to keep all these little creatures.

With one last look, and a rueful sigh, Burgerpants shrugged it off and pressed onward to the door, now feeling significantly clammier than before.

 _It's not hard, to just knock_ , he kept telling himself. And maybe he was stalling a little, but whatever. This endeavor was utterly nerve-wracking.

He contemplated just throwing in the towel now, preserving what little dignity he still had left.

"Ugh…" He sighed and hung his head. " _No._ "

He didn't come all this way to give up. Even if it was just a joke, even if Napstablook didn't care enough to even remember his name, Burgerpants still had to try. Just to be able to say that he did.

That could be classified as one of his more redeeming qualities, the fact that he wasn't entirely devoid of hope.

Why else did he spend months and months at a lackluster, dead-end retail job? He held a firm belief that there was more to it than that, that something good could still happen. That, if he continued to be miserable, it would pay off in some minuscule way.

And why pass up even the slightest chance to be sincerely happy? He wasn't about to let that slip away. He'd been played for a fool too many times to start believing it himself, especially when he prided himself on his societal knowledge and quick thinking.

So, no, he wasn't going to give up on this that easily.

He rapped on the wooden door two times. Enough to be heard, but not enough to make it urgent or, dare he say, _creepy_.

No answer.

Burgerpants frowned. His acute sense of hearing picked up on the muffled sound of music coming from inside. He couldn't make out a lot, but it sounded like it was just bits and pieces of different tunes and harmonies all mashed together. He wanted to get a closer look.

If curiosity did indeed kill the cat, well, then he supposed he wouldn't have to work the next day, would he?

As he approached the back side of the house, he could see a small window shielded by shutters. It didn't take much for him to peer through one of the cracks, and he could faintly make out what appeared to be a ghost wearing… headphones?

Burgerpants shrugged. Ghost monsters had weird rules for physics, as he was quickly discovering.

He had to make sure this was actually Napstablook, however. He couldn't even begin to imagine the horror of barging in on some other random Blook family member, having to awkwardly mutter an explanation, then promptly dive into the river and float home.

Upon closer inspection, Burgerpants noticed a stack of empty snail food boxes against the side of the house right below the window. In hindsight, he probably could have thought this through a little more instead of assuming that empty cardboard boxes would be able to support his weight, but he had to try something to get a better look. It only took one step of his foot before he realized that he'd seriously misjudged this idea, and went tumbling backwards into a bunch of black ferns. The sound he made during this ordeal could not have been louder, not to mention the pain he was now feeling in his lower back. How could this get any worse?

He heard the door creak open from the other side of the building, and Burgerpants readied himself for a nice, cold dip in the river after slapping himself for speaking too soon.

"H…Hello….?" The next thing he heard was an unmistakable whisper. "Who's out there…?

Napstablook definitely wasn't confrontational, which was fine, but this would have been the second time now that Burgerpants would clumsily embarrass himself in front of the sweet little spectre. It was almost _worse_ that they would be greeting him with the same, huge, sorrowful eyes instead of a swift kick in the ass for being an intrusive weirdo.

"If you want to steal anything…. I hate to disappoint you. I don't have much…."

The cat monster decided that holding his breath and wishing to be anywhere else wasn't going to help anything, and so he sheepishly rose his hand, shoulders hunched, dignity shattered.

"I-it's just me."

Before he even had time to change his mind and run, he was met with the same, big, ghoulish eyes. The very ones that kept him up late the previous night. Not scary, or unnerving. Just haunting.

He'd have to kick himself later for the ghost-related wordplay that his train of thought seemed to be filled with.

"Burgerpants? What are you doing here? Er… Crouching in the bushes?"

It only took about four seconds for Burgerpants to get over the initial shock that Napstablook actually remembered who he was, and another six seconds to recover from hearing that sweet little voice. Then, he felt the brutal vice of anxiety. How in the underground was he supposed to explain his motives without sounding the least-bit creepy?

"Umm, you know. I was just in the neighbourhood," He paused to stand on shaky knees. "And I figured I'd, you know, drop in?"

"Oh… that's… nice of you."

"I figured I'd take up your offer from last night, yanno?" He chuckled, feeling his face grow hotter and hotter while Napstablook just stared at him blankly. How awkward.

"Oh…. Well, alright."

Even more awkward, the fact that they didn't sound even a tiny bit enthusiastic. Was that due to their typical nature, or did they actually think he was creepy? It was hard to say, but Burgerpants definitely felt worse now than he did with the "Burger-Incident."

Needless to say, this wasn't going as he'd planned. Like, at all.

"You're welcome to come in…" Napstablook started floating towards the house, gesturing ever so slightly along the way. Burgerpants hesitated, contemplating how this would even progress with the dread he was feeling inside, but he followed suit.

The house was… less than stellar, to put it as nicely as possible. However, it was also very quaint, and the longer Burgerpants scanned the surroundings, the more he was drawn to its charm.

"I don't have much… I'm sorry." Napstablook sighed.

"N-n-no, it's all good, buddy, honest!" Burgerpants waved his arms frantically in retort. "I kinda like it, actually."

Something told him that Napstablook didn't seem all that convinced. Mostly due to the skeptical look on their face, but the cat monster shrugged it off and smiled reassuringly. This made the ghost smile, and it felt good.

He felt warm, in fact, as sappy as that sounded.

"Uh, listen, why don't you…" Burgerpants picked up a mixed tape labeled 'Ghouliday Mix'. "…Tell me about this tape, huh? You make music?"

Napstablook hovered slowly to the side of Burgerpants' line of sight. Bashfully, they nodded.

"That's my… holiday music. Appropriately named, I think. It's not very good… but my c-cousin liked to play it during Gyftmas."

"Can I listen to it?"

"Umm… if you wa—"

Before Napstablook could finish, there was a loud knock at the door which caused both of them to jump. Immediately, and almost instinctively, Burgerpants put his arm in front of the little ghost, who was now cowering at their desk.

"Oh… no…. it's her."

"Her?" If it was who Burgerpants was thinking of, then 'oh no' was a highly justifiable reaction.

"Undyne, Captain of the Royal Guard! Is anyone home?"

Yep. Definitely 'oh no' worthy.

Burgerpants looked back at Napstablook, who had now seemingly evaporated into thin air. Despite all his better judgement, the cat monster now felt it was necessary to defend them.

Cautiously, he walked towards the door, opening it as carefully as possible, and cringing at the possible beat-down he would receive for not responding right away.

"Y-yeah?"

"Um."

Looking up at her, Burgerpants saw a look of concern on her face, rather than the pure, unadulterated rage that he would've expected.

"Isn't this Napstablook's house? Who are you?"

"I'm a… friend." Shoot. How quickly could he just declare them friends to anyone, when he didn't even know if Napstablook actually felt that way or not? But that wasn't the primary concern at the moment, so he pushed through. "N-Napstablook isn't home right now, sorry."

"Oh, well, could you tell them that I'm doing a weekly human patrol? If either of you see one, you need to report it to me or one of my subordinates immediately."

Burgerpants tried to get himself to stop shaking as he sent Undyne on her way. She wasn't as bad as he'd initially thought, but obviously she triggered some anxiety in Napstablook, and that was reason enough for him to feel good about covering for them.

Gingerly, he shut the door and wandered to where the ghost was last seen, hoping that they didn't bail on their semi-hangout.

"It's okay now, she's gone."

A full minute of waiting, and Burgerpants was starting to get worried again. "Napstablook? You can come out now, yanno, if you want to..." Now it felt like he was being too forceful. Why did he only know how to act properly when it _didn't_ matter?

Suddenly, he heard a faint whisper beside his ear, and sighed with relief.

"Th-thank you…"

The cat monster turned to face the now visible spectre, who looked even more embarrassed than Burgerpants usually did. It was comforting, in a way, to know that they weren't too different after all.

"You're my guest…. I'm sorry, I haven't been the greatest host. I understand if you don't want to be here anymore after my… cowardly actions."

Burgerpants smiled gently, his eyes soft and showing all of the things he wanted to say to fully reassure them, but wouldn't because he himself was too cowardly. He settled on something simple. "Of course I still want to be here. I came to visit, after all."

Napstablook's eyes filled with tears, and they gave him a wobbly grin. "W… would you like to… join me for a meal?"


End file.
